THE NON-PLASTIC FANTASTIC

he plastic packaging T tax comes into force in April, bringing charges for using plastic packaging that doesn’t contain at least 30% recycled material [see more on this on p24]. In response, manufacturers and dealers are looking to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging by using alternatives.

“In the upcoming months we will see a shift in what types of recyclable products and packaging businesses will use,” says Kayla Hubbard, sales and marketing executive at DCI. “Businesses will be considering using biodegradable and natural alternatives or recyclable plastics.

“Common types of recycled packaging we will see more regularly include paper and cardboard. We have seen companies consider cutting out single plastics, such as plastic straws, and using recyclable materials instead, such as paper, and packaging such as R-PET, which is up to 80% recyclable, will become increasingly popular. Instead of single use of paper, companies may consider printing directly on to products, for example. At DCI, we use R-PET packaging and we now print onto cartridges, not placing any more materials inside the packaging.”

Kayla expects that, over time, plastic content use will reduce thanks to companies using more recyclable alternatives. “We will see more sustainable practices and changes to production processes,” she says. “We expect to see more companies wanting to cut costs by doing this, and there will be, potentially, changes within suppliers.”

There will also be more biodegradable products, such as packing peanuts, used in packaging, rather than Styrofoam. “We should see more natural materials being used as substitutes such as cotton, soy silk and sand,” Kayla says. “Companies have already started to invest in options such as edible packaging, alongside packaging that offers the choice of reuse. A lot of plastic alternatives tend to be raw and natural materials, manipulated for the use of things such as packaging.”

Mark Harper, head of sales, UK&I – office technology – at HSM, adds that more businesses are looking to use recycled

shredded cardboard as packaging, rather than plastic-based alternatives such as bubble wrap, which are difficult to recycle. To this end, he has seen a six-fold upswing in the number of businesses buying profipack machines, which shred cardboard, in the past few years. “Shredded cardboard is economical and environmentally friendly; it means businesses are not paying to send their waste away,” he says. “We have seen a massive increase in its use in recent years.”

He adds that using recycled cardboard as packaging filler can help to reduce breakage as people are happy to use lots of it. “People don’t skimp on it, as it is seen as a free resource,” he says. The other advantage he points to is that the packaging material can be recycled again and, therefore, stays in the chain.

Mark sees the trend for using profipack continuing in 2022 and beyond, especially among retailers and dealers that don’t have enough cardboard waste to justify the spend on a cardboard bailing machine that can cost at least £5,000 for a small model. “Often profipak is used as an alternative to bailing when your volumes aren’t high enough to justify a bailer, so you convert it into packaging.”

Mark says that dealers could add profipack machines to their product portfolio but, due to the niche nature of the product and its cost – up to £3,500 for larger machines – it requires a targeted selling approach. “It doesn’t sell itself; you need to have an idea which customers to talk to,” he says. “If you send a mailer out to an office product mailing list – with law firms etc on it - it doesn’t work as they don’t know what it is.”

Instead, dealers can send out a pack – including a sample, case study, press release and the like – to businesses that might be interested. “I would rather send 30 of those out to people who have warehouses than send 1,000 mailers out to general office products mailing lists,” he says.

Kayla agrees that it is important to market how products and companies are reducing plastic use, or providing alternatives, but is mindful that this, too needs to be sustainable. “Marketing is largely dominated by digital platforms and this is a sustainable marketing practice,” she says. “There is a lot of help for marketing in channels such as social media, blogs and websites. These are all marketing materials where they are not only sustainable, due to being intangible - they also give readers the chance to have dwell time.

“Website and blogs are good chances to offer a deep insight into a company as they can be more personal. Businesses can use other marketing practices, such as mailings which use recyclable materials, if digital marketing is not the route for them.”

Rosie Brown, trade marketing executive at Durable UK, notes that some companies have a dedicated customer portal designed to help dealers and resellers understand their products and maximise their potential. Durable is one such, with its Blue Angel range, made from 80% recycled materials; it repurposes existing plastic material in such a way that new products are created. “This portal is updated with any new enhancements and asset updates, including images, web banners and product information about all our ranges to make it as easy as possible to use,” she says.